Alfredo Panzini

Alfredo Panzini (31 December 1863 – 10 April 1939) was an Italian novelist, critic, historical writer, and lexicographer. A prolific and popular writer, Panzini is famous in Italy for his brilliant and amusing humorous stories.

Biography

Alfredo Panzini was born at Senigallia, the son of Emilio Panzini, a physician, and Filomena (Santini) Panzini. Panzini spent his early life at Rimini. He was educated at the Marco Foscarini Lyceum in Venice and at the University of Bologna, where his teacher was the great poet Giosuè Carducci. He graduated from University of Bologna with a degree in literature and a thesis on macaronic Latin poet Teofilo Folengo.

Panzini was Carducci's lifelong disciple. He himself became a teacher. In 1886 he was appointed to the Ginnasio Governativo of Castellammare di Stabia, a small town on the gulf of Salerno. He taught the second year class in Italian, Latin, History and Geography. In 1888, he was transferred to the Ginnasio Giuseppe Parini in Milan. In July 1890 he married Clelia Gabrielli; they had three sons (one deceased) and a daughter. In 1897 he was called by Senator Francesco Brioschi to teach Italian literature in the preparatory school of the Polytechnic University of Milan. He did not, however, give up his teaching duties at the Parini, but retained both positions and continued with his private tutoring. In 1905, in fact, he undertook a third teaching position at the Circolo Filologico. In 1907, after 19 years, he left the Parini but continued in both the other two teaching positions. In 1918 Panzini moved to Rome, where he taught at the Istituto Leonardo da Vinci until 1924 and then at the Liceo Terenzio Mamiani. In 1924 he began contributing to the cultural page the Corriere della Sera. In 1927 he retired to Bellaria, a quiet village on the Adriatic, where he spent the rest of his life.